to complicate

Examples

• All

• Well, that certainly complicates things.

  Fortress (2012)

• I think that would complicate matters.

  Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)

• Feels like it would complicate things too much.

• We'll just enjoy the time we have together... and not complicate everything.

  Celebrity (1998)

• Then Dad had to go and get himself killed and complicate things even more.

  Fiction book (1993)

• These facts are gonna complicate the hearing.

  Joey & Rex Save the Church (2022)

• So let's not complicate it any more.

  An Affair to Remember (1957)

• It will only complicate things.

  The Right Stuff (1983)

• How do these two pursuits complement or complicate each other?

• The article identifies several complicating factors that must be considered when making pedagogical decisions.

  Academic text (2011)

Synonyms

I

to involve

vsto complicate

570 4.6

Make a situation or process more complicated and hard to understand

is similar but more neutral about linking parts versus simple difficulty

P

to perplex

vsto complicate

35 6.3

To make someone confused and unable to understand

focuses on making the thing itself more complex rather than people confused

O

to overcomplicate

vsto complicate

3 5.8

Make something harder than it needs to be

is the general act of making something more complex or harder

K

to knot

vsto complicate

2 6.5

To make something tangled and difficult to understand

applies to complexity generally rather than physical knotting

M

to make a meal of

vsto complicate

• Informal

1 8.3

Act as if something is much more difficult or important than it is

describes real increase in difficulty rather than behaving as if so

E

to embrangle

vsto complicate

• Archaic

9.9

To make something more confused or tangled

means the same increase in complexity but without the image of tangles

R

to ravel

vsto complicate

8.4

To make a situation or story more confusing

covers adding complexity but not necessarily physical or threadlike tangles

M

to muddy up

vsto complicate

• Informal

6.7

To make an idea or situation unclear and confusing

focuses on added complexity rather than only reduced clarity

R

to remuddle the issue

vsto complicate

9.3

To make a problem more confusing instead of clearer

is the broader action of making something more complex or difficult

C

to complexify

vsto complicate

9.3

To make something harder to understand or do

is the everyday way to describe making something more complex

O

to overelaborate

vsto complicate

8.1

To add too much detail and make something more complicated than needed

means increasing complexity generally, not only by adding needless detail

M

to make heavy weather of

vsto complicate

• UK

8.2

Act as if a task is much harder than it is

applies to genuine added complexity rather than rhetorical exaggeration of hardship

R

to rarify

vsto complicate

• Formal

9.9

To make something more detailed by adding small parts or ideas

is the plain increase of complexity, not necessarily refined or subtle

Antonyms

S

to simplify

99 2.5

Make something easier to understand or use

How Complicated

to overcomplicate

3 5.8

to complicate

101 4.1

to simplify

99 2.5

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology